This Op-Ed by Friends of Medicare's executive director, Chris Gallaway, was originally published in the Edmonton Journal on July 18, 2024.
I was disappointed to read Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s recent op-ed article, “Why Alberta is opting out of the federal dental care plan,” in which she continues to spread misinformation on dental care in Alberta, while attempting to justify the premier’s recent announcement that their government intends to try to take the new Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) away from Albertans.
The minister states her government “is committed to making sure those that need to access dental care, receive it,” yet their own record disputes that very claim. Through two election campaigns and three health ministers, the UCP government has never run on, prioritized, or mentioned the idea of expanding dental care access.
The only time the premier or minister have uttered the words dental care is right now, when a new national dental insurance plan is underway and benefiting Albertans.
Notably, their arbitrary timeline for opting out is 2026, conveniently after the next federal election. It couldn’t be any more clear that our premier is more interested in picking petty political fights with Ottawa, over and over again as we head into the federal election, than she is in ensuring Albertans have better access to dental care.
But let’s clarify some dental care facts. The Canadian Dental Care Plan has already provided life-changing access to dental care for over 100,000 seniors in Alberta, and recently expanded eligibility to include children and folks living with disabilities. Remember that this is not some mass duplication of programs; these are folks who have no other option for accessing dental care.
It should come as no surprise that tens of thousands of Albertans have rushed to sign up for this new coverage. The need here is great. Alberta consistently has the most expensive dental care rates in the county, while at the same time we have the highest percentage of residents who say they avoid dental care due to cost (28 per cent), greater than every other province.
Yet still, the minister continues to repeat the claim that Alberta offers “the most extensive, publicly funded dental coverage in Canada.”
Frankly, we don’t. Only 7.3 per cent of Albertans qualify for our patchwork of public dental programs. Many of these programs have co-pays and low annual caps on services, and the maximum-income thresholds are a fraction of what qualifies for the new federal plan.
To qualify for provincial dental care support, a single adult can only earn a maximum income of $16,580 per year, an adult with a child: $26,023; a single senior $33,410; and so on. All of these incomes are far below the national annual threshold of $90,000 to qualify for the CDCP.
The minister also continues to mention the consultation process with provinces as their major concern. But consultation and collaboration work two ways. When it came to expanding pharmacare, the UCP pre-emptively announced they were seeking to opt Alberta out, even before any details were announced, legislation was tabled, or any conversations had begun.
Now with dental care, their request to opt out comes months after the program is already underway. The expansion of dental care was first announced in 2022. It has been a slow, phased-in process. Canadians have been signing on since last year. To claim their government didn’t know or have an opportunity for consultation is farcical. Why wait until now to speak up or announce an opt out?
Other provinces have come to the table to synchronize their programs, eliminate duplication and ensure the best possible access for the residents. The Alberta government has opted not to work collaboratively. They should reverse that decision.
Ultimately, the CDCP is a fully federally paid-for program that provides eligible Canadians with a Sun Life benefits card in order to access dental care services at participating providers. It’s unclear how Alberta could even opt out of such a program.
But when it comes down to it, dental care is health care and Albertans shouldn’t lose our access to the CDCP in exchange for a blank cheque to our provincial government.